Can you cite figures of how much a college can save by pre-qualifying leads? 

A traditional mailing from a college typical mailing will cost $1.00 per piece.  That includes the cost of the name, the printing and the postage, plus additional labor or fulfillment costs.  If the response rate is 5 percent, then the cost per prospect is above $20.  An online service like ours saves the cost of the name, the printing and the postage.  That can reduce the same school's cost per prospect from above $20 to less than $5. 

 

As information about colleges becomes more abundant, what shopping techniques are students and families adopting? 
Anonymous shopping on the web is quite popular.  Parents and students make significant use of virtual college fairs, matching services, online videos, online comparison tools and candid, unfiltered student reviews.  They are seeking and getting a real feel for what it's like to attend a school.  Meanwhile, they seem to be doing most of their shopping close to home, perhaps even moreso than prior years.  We perceive wider use of scholarship search tools, especially merit aid scholarships awarded by schools. 

 

How are tuition prices affecting today's college shopper? 
Very profoundly.  They're making tough choices when they select where to apply.  The loan shortage and the troubled economy are causing many to shop for colleges that are more within their means.  There may even be a growing aversion to debt in general.  Private college applicants, and even some enrolled students, will apply for financial aid in greater numbers.  Home equity, income and savings are in decline for many families, boosting their chances for eligibility.  Value and affordability have to be obvious to today's shopper. 

 

Smaller endowments.  More consumer resistance to increased tuition.  Some capital expenditures may have to be curtailed.  At some schools who cannot effectively respond to economic realities, there may be cutbacks and layoffs.  Is it possible some campuses will add to the courseload of tenured faculty while laying off adjuncts?

As a 35 year-old company president, are you ahead of or abreast of your peers? 

It depends on the peer.  Some of the people I went to Northwestern with are working as journalists. Perhaps a few that I attended Kellogg with are running a business enterprise.  I enjoy being responsible for 15 employees, and I look forward to continued strong growth in our business.  I've made sure that we're stafffed with seasoned managers in key supervisory positions.   

 

Who are the clients of Cappex.com and how many are there? 
We serve 800 colleges, two-year and four-year, private and public.  Some of them include Rice University, Elmhurst College, Lake Forest College, University of Denver and the International Academy of Design and Technology. 

 

What service do you provide those schools, and how is Cappex compensated?
In addition to reducing the cost per prospect, we enable them to cast a wider net for prospects, then filter them more effectively.   We get them noticed and help them interact with students while they are shopping on the web.  We are compensated by an annual subscription, which is based on the number of campaigns they run on our site. 

I would like to be associated with a Cappex that's broader and taller. I want to help colleges recruit graduate students, adult students and international students as well.  I want to play a key role helping students find colleges and colleges find students.